The polyphenylene ether resins are well known in the art as a class of thermoplastics which possess a number of outstanding physical properties making them useful in the field of molded plastics as well as other areas. Generally, they are prepared by oxidative and nonoxidative processes, such as are disclosed, for example, in Hay, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,306,874 and 3,306,875; Stamatoff, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,257,357, and 3,257,358; as well as Cizek, U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,435, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Although the polyphenylene ether resins, as indicated above, have many useful properties and they have been widely adapted for use in the field of molded plastics as well as other fields because of such properties, these materials still exhibit certain disadvantages, such as, for example, relatively high melt viscosity properties which make them difficult to manipulate in processes such as, for example, plastic molding and extruding processes and the like. Consequently, there exists a need to overcome this disadvantage with respect to polyphenylene ether resins. The present invention avoids the mentioned disadvantage.